Routing Ramps for slotted headstock

[Quickstep192]

Originally Posted by Frank Ford

If you're working on this instrument yourself, you'll be learning, like it or not. Going at this kind of project with the feeling that you can't afford to make a mistake is likely to lead to the kind of paralysis that can keep you from finishing, or otherwise make you so nervous that mistakes are more probable.

I'm a firm believer in the need to make mistakes. That's the way we learn. As much as we'd like to learn from reading or watching, the reality is that we really learn by doing and trying, failing and recovering.

I met a gentleman who had bought a guitar kit and was looking for someone to show him how to put it together. He'd had the kit for almost 30 years and hadn't been able to find the mentor who would be able to help him through the project. He absolutely refused to start it until he could be assured he could finish without mistakes. Obviously, that kit will remain unbuilt. . .

One of the things I think was cool about building an instrument is that you learn to fix mistakes along the way. When I inlayed my first fret board, I did a few frets each day and quickly I couldn't very well throw the thing away and start over if I had completed the inlay on the first, third, fifth, seventh and ninth frets and messed up the complicated inly on the 12th fret. I'm not unwilling to dive in, I would just like to know that the metaphorical pool has [I]some[I] water in it before I jump off the end of the diving board. That said, I'm not proficient with the tools that require talent; never have been. Things like carving and the more "artful" stuff I've never been able to master. That's one of the reasons I was looking to rout the ramps. After drawing up a jig to rout the ramps, I now realize I must have dreamed that. The angle that the jig would have to take on the headstock would end up being very steep and I don't think it could be secured well enough to avert a disaster. So, I'm buying some files and with some luck and a modicum of patience I really don't have, maybe I'll prevail!